Daily Yellowstone journal., 1887-01-22
SCENES AT THE BANK.
NATHsTIc SIGHTS WITNESSED At A
eOWeRY SAVINGS INSTITUTION.

4kaxedies Enacted in the Struggle OF Saw
ing Mites for Deposit-A Curious As
ssrtment of Persons In Line Early
Monday Morning.
BY common consent, not less than by
nscessity, Monday Is made the busy day.
Then the bulk of the deposits are made.
M bank doors are opened at 5 A. NJ,
I'D are not closed until z p. NJ. The first
~ s~tragglers are flremen, whose engines
80 waiting for water and fuel. They
lkaw their pay late on Saturday evening,
lard 1t over Sunday and put il away the
INT thing on Monday. What temptations
anme Of them must resist in that thirty
1cur or t~hirty-ive hoursl Among these
enrly corners a woman appears, thinly
clad, hanging on the arm Of her young
hnsband, whose slouchy look and shut
fling gait are infallible signs that he is
travelling the wrong road TO reach pros
perity and happiness, Perhaps they have
baby at the place they call home, and
b has left il that she may come here
with her hayward partner osec their pit
tAnce put beyond the immediate reach Of
the grog shop, How she must have
ahemed and planned all day Sunday to
keep her good man by her side, away from
temptation, where she could play the
watchdog over their miserable treasure
until IL was in the hands OF other guard
fans! II the restless man wanted TO 60
upon the street she threw on her shawl
and went with him; il he insisted on hav-
fng a dram she took a pitcher and got him
beer with her own hands, and persuaded
him to drink II in his room. Not for an
instant did she lose sight Of him. Nobody
knows what stratagems such. wives use to
ave their husbands and their children
and-last Of all-themselves, from going
10 the dogs. And can Sunday he a day of
rest 10 them with such breakers aheadt
Why would il not be better if Friday were
made pay day, so that these people could
put away their earnings without this dan
eerous holding over for thirty odd hoursp
Or why not open the savings banks on
Sunday Has either plan been tried in
this cityf
As day comes on and the city begins to
wake up, the stragglers into the bank give
way to a procession. A curious assortment
of persons forms the line that, beginning
ut the grated window marked Receiving
Teller" .retches down the length of the
Office, curves TO the left, in the form Of a
horseshoe, and doubling back extends be-
yond the starting point into the lobby
from which il is fed. This lobby reminds
ene OF the hopper in an old fashioned
country grist mill With their blue bank
books in hand the people crowd into the
small place, twisting in and out, through
and between, pushing and squeezing this
way and that way, elbowing their neigh.
bors, and finally catching on TO the line
Of march in precisely the same manner
Is the corn in the hopper finds its way
to the jaws of the millstones. Glance as
the line as il slowly pays out of the hop
per and files by the grated window. See
the old woman, now neryously fumbling
In the pocket OF her too shiny alpaca
dress for q few coins to make up the
dollar she has come TO deposit. Savings
Of a week. Yesterday she went without
dinner and fire rather than rob herself Of
ene penny. She must have worn that
emnan of a bonnet Z ten years, judging
by its looks. Her shocs-you couldn call
them shoes; they are patches Of old leather
sewn together somewhat in the shape of
shoes. Stockings Why you can see the
skin Of her foot through the broad seam.
dol
lar; all right, " says the teller. lie makes
o few figures in her book and hands il
back TO her. The little. slender figure is
unceremoniously pushed on by the rcvoly-
ing unwinding process going N in the
hopper, and the next person in line appears
face TO face with the teller.
Next comes on a woman Of middle age,
once short, n blonde, fresh and fair; now
still short, but faded and wrinklcl. She
has the lack-luster eye so common in per-
Sons who belong in what may surely be
called, even in democratic America, the
disappointed claSs-an eye from which all
hope Of happiness long since fled. She has
seen better days; she married beneath her
and her husband dragged her down. Too
late nov To rise, Your life is
wrecked. Nothing 10 live for but death.
But for whom is she laying up that money!
She gives the teller some notes and he
counts them out, 81. The hopper grinds
on. she is forced aside and disappears in
the street.
The next person In the line is a young
girl. evidently sent by her mother 20
make a deposit. She gives no indication
of the circumstances OF her family, though
n one may see by her untidy dress that
her mother, he she comfortable or needy,
Is a careless sort Of person who doesn't
believe in the next thing TO golliness.
Behind the girl is a man whom you
would take 10 be n miser, simply because
of his repulsive appearance. lie Is about
i've feet -four inches, and carries between
his shoulder blades n hump that dwarts
and stoOps him. causes his neck Ia seem
much shorter than IL is. and pushes his
head forward 10 an angle Of - dogs, 10
that IL is not easy FOR him 20 raise his
eyes to look straight before him lie car
ries n walking stick, and YOU may easily
Imagine that his room in some Houston
street garnet is the abode Of cats. and
snakes, and n crow or two, in whose rom
partnership he finds what he imagincs Is
~suolunary happiness. But " q miser
ht is Of a new breed, for who ever heard
Of one Of the old Kind keeping his money
I'm a hank lie deposits $40 and moves on.
Behind him is a poor fellow who has
been doing the work Of Sisyphus for
twenty years. lie has the poor mans mis-
Fortune big family-and whenever his
bank account begins 10 grow one Of the
'1childers" needs the doctor, and suddenly
the money is all gone. Then he begins
over again, with the same result, and soft
goes on, year after year. "If ! can only
get n start. ~ Is his refrain 10 the ccasclcss
M Of his disappointments. Next comes
our mother, leading her little girl by
the hand, and smiling ut the child's
pranks. There must be sunshine in her
home. Her industrious husband, too busy
70 come 10 the bank, makes her the
-.l.,.. Ta.Iar- .Aa